The main purpose of the coalition's attack on the northwest of Beijing, Haidian, and the Yuanmingyuan was to vent the anger of the Pasha Rite mission at being abused and humiliated, and to test the reaction of the ghost troops to the offensive on the outskirts of Beijing. The White River, the lifeblood of the coalition's supply and transportation, was about to freeze at the beginning of November, and it would have been better if it had followed the original historical trajectory, but now that there was a stirring in Goxinga, the war had been delayed until late October. The already weak transportation capacity of the coalition forces is greatly limited, and if a major war breaks out on the outskirts of Beijing, the supply system of the coalition forces will inevitably collapse, and the consequences will be unimaginable.

In order to prevent the troops from falling into a critical situation, the high-level meeting of the coalition forces decided to end the war before the Trough White River was completely frozen anyway. As a result, the top brass set a deadline for the end of the war, and the French commander-in-chief Montauban planned for the French army to leave Beijing by the end of November. Grant, the commander of the British army, is still a prisoner of war in Goshinga, and Mitchell can't decide such a big thing, so in the end, it was decided by Ergin and his people to evacuate by December 1 at the latest. In a word, the battle must be fought within a month.

However, it is not realistic to think of a quick victory at the moment, the majestic walls of Beijing are too strong, and there is no trace of the ghost troops, and conventional means of war will definitely not be able to successfully end the war. Some extreme means of coercion to achieve the end of war were proposed by the British mission represented by Elgin. For example, the burning of the Old Summer Palace.

Before the start of the war, Britain and France had a consensus that in order to ensure the strict implementation of the Treaty of Tientsin and the dispatch of envoys to Beijing, it was necessary to enter the city of Beijing, the center of Qing Empire rule, by force. From the beginning to the end, the strategic goal of Britain and France was to force the Qing government to surrender through the iconic goal of occupying the city of Beijing. Although the attitude of the French side was repeatedly relaxed after Goxinga came out to stir up the situation, the British side, headed by Ergin, never gave up this plan.

However, the situation on the part of the coalition forces is a little awkward now, not only the ghost troops behind them have caused them huge military pressure, but also the people who have escaped are very embarrassing for them. After the Anglo-French troops arrived in the city, Emperor Xianfeng and Prince Gong were all upside down. However, the Qing court did not surrender, no one came out to say whether it was war or peace, and no one in the city had the right to negotiate. Now the coalition forces are embarrassed, they are here to negotiate a treaty, not to destroy the Qing Dynasty, and they do not have the ability to destroy the Qing Dynasty. They desperately need the Qing Dynasty to stand up and announce their surrender to them and accept their treaty, instead of fighting like this.

"According to the provisions of the "Public Law of Nations", if an envoy is killed, he will break the city one day, and no chickens and dogs will be left. We should go and destroy the city of Beijing, destroy the palaces of the Qing Empire, punish them for their crimes, and humiliate their emperor! The hostage incident at the Shabari Mission gave Elgin an excellent opportunity and excuse for revenge, so that he could gain the support of the British press, avoid falling into the whirlpool of unfavorable public opinion, and adjust his strategy according to the development of the situation.

"We have promised that if we occupy Beijing, we will maintain order and property security in Beijing, and if we destroy the Forbidden City, or even the entire city of Beijing, we will be tantamount to breaking our own promises." Both Gro and Montauban opposed Elgin's proposal, both because they really valued their previous promises, and because they didn't think Ergin's proposal was feasible at all. It will take a lot of time to destroy Beijing City and the Forbidden City, and the continuous reinforcements of the Qing Dynasty will definitely be able to destroy the main force of the coalition army before Beijing City is destroyed.

"We should ask the Qing government to build a huge monument to the atonement in Tianjin, and engrave on it what happened to them, as well as the Qing government's compensation for the incident, and the emperor's repentance for the victims!" Ergin ignored the opposition of the French side, and he also knew that it was not realistic to demolish the Forbidden City and destroy the city of Beijing.

"We can make requests during the negotiation, and we can discuss specific matters when we negotiate!" Gro felt that Ergin's request was a meaningless act to vent his anger, and he did not think that the proud Qing Emperor would agree to such a thing.

"We should punish the emperor of the Qing Dynasty and demolish his palace!" Gro's attitude angered Ergin, and he angrily proposed to demolish the Forbidden City again.

Elgin's impatience was very inconsistent with his status as a diplomat with full powers, but he was really miserable in England, so he was not in a hurry. Monk Greenqin was almost scolded by the imperial historian for breaking the ancestral tomb, and Erjin should be treated similarly.

Opponents of the British Palmerston cabinet believe that the previous fiasco in the Battle of Dagu was entirely the responsibility of Ergin's miscalculation. Even in the eyes of the unlucky Pasha Li, Ergin was completely resent to China by the Palmerston cabinet as a "redeemer". Ergin must prove himself with practical actions, and if anything goes wrong during this trip to China, Ergin's political life will basically be over.

It was precisely because of the tremendous pressure on Ergin's heart that from the beginning of this expedition, he changed his previous calm and cautious to become irritable and aggressive, eager to compensate for the losses of the British side with victory, and "silence the mouths of the government attacking him".

In contrast, the French side of Gro and Montauban had no such concerns at all, and the expedition was also aimed at successfully completing the set tasks on the premise of avoiding being too radical and overthrowing the Qing court.

The increasingly open contradictions and unfavorable personal situation within the top echelons of the coalition forces prompted Ergin to urgently seek a way to "deal a severe and swift blow to Beijing, and to deal a heavy blow to the Qing Emperor in particular." In order to ensure that the Qing Dynasty could quickly send someone out to sign the treaty, and put an end to the current embarrassing situation of no war and no peace.

In Ergin's view, destroying the imperial palace or some landmark buildings can be regarded as the best option for these purposes. Because this move can not only break the confidence of the Qing army to resist the coalition forces, so as to end the war as soon as possible, but also get rid of the disadvantageous position of the British army in the political alliance between Britain and France as soon as possible.

"Your suggestion, sir, is only a senseless revenge." Gro was already a little speechless about Ergin.

"Our soldiers have gone to attack the Old Summer Palace, which is the private property of the Qing Emperor, and the Emperor spends most of the year there, and he must have a deep affection for it. Moreover, Pa Xia Li and others have been imprisoned there, and we should raze the Old Summer Palace to the ground and make the Qing Emperor pay for his actions. At the same time, our innocent envoys should be compensated, and I demand that the Qing government pay 300,000 taels to the British and the families of the victims. Ergin took aim at the Old Summer Palace, and he wanted to destroy the beloved summer palace of Emperor Xianfeng.

"There must be some motive for the British to insist on doing something that is clearly unjustified and unjustified. This strange behavior of theirs will certainly not be in the interests of our France, and we absolutely cannot support them. Montauban felt that Elgin was completely unreasonable, so he secretly muttered a few words in Gro's ear, he did not believe that the British could have no conspiracy. After the end of the Crimean War two years ago, the Anglo-French alliance gradually drifted apart, and the alliance relations became increasingly tense, and the knife never stopped in private.

In fact, Montauban also has the place where Elgin is wrong, after Grant was taken away by Goxinga, Ergin's judgment on military affairs has a serious error, and he is a little blindly optimistic. Including the ghost troops, the supply line crisis and other issues, are not in Elgin's consideration. Because the French sent fewer troops than the British, the "pride" of the French army demanded that the British send the same number of troops during the battle, and as a result, the British army left the logistical maintenance work such as guarding the base and protecting the communication lines to the British army alone. Therefore, the French army, which is the main force on the front line, is still a huge burden in Ergin's tears.

"It is true that the Qing government should not compensate me, but now is not the time for us to intensify the conflict. I propose that the Qing government pay compensation to the captured hostages a total of 200,000 taels, and return the tombs of the Catholic churches in the provinces and the missionaries of Xiushan in China during the Kangxi period. Gro also felt that his unlovable British colleague had been driven crazy by opposition MPs in his own country.

"The Old Summer Palace must be destroyed, and the Qing Emperor must pay for his stupid actions!" Ergin had long distrusted the French, and he had discovered that Gro was in close contact with the Russian minister Ignatiev, and that Lao Maozi was likely acting as a mediator between the French and Prince Gong. In the far East, Ergin already had a clear sense that Franco-Russian relations in China had surpassed Franco-British relations. Since the French were no longer his close comrades-in-arms, there was no need for him to listen to the French's advice.

British Mitchell, Lieutenant General John Mitchell, received orders from Elgin to command the British 1st Division, the 60th Rifle Battalion, and the 15th Punjab Infantry Regiment to launch an attack on the "Three Mountains and Five Gardens" royal gardens, including the Old Summer Palace. They will take over the French and British forces that have already entered the Old Summer Palace, and complete the task of destroying the Old Summer Palace. Ergin, who was puffing up, also issued an announcement in the name of the command of the Anglo-French Expeditionary Force:

In the universe, no matter how noble an emperor is, if he commits the crime of hypocrisy, fraud, and violation of humanity, he cannot escape his due responsibility and punishment! The barbarism of the Chinese government in the East is bound to fail, and we are acting now for the sake of fairness and justice. If the Chinese government's cruelty of disregard for public international law is not impressed for a long time, the British people will be dissatisfied. If peace is made with them now, and the Manchu government will consider the people of our country to be free to hunt and kill Wuji, and at this point it must be vigilant against its delusions!

In order to punish the Qing Emperor for not keeping the previous covenant and violating the peace treaty, our army will burn the Old Summer Palace. All kinds of violations of the law, the people did not participate in them, and they will never be harmed, but the Qing autocratic government cannot go unpunished!

However, no one knew that Wilson was on the way to escape in embarrassment, and the Three Mountains and Five Gardens were already Goxinga's territory.